The Importance of Yogic Exercises

Human body and mind are, possibly, the greatest wonders in the whole universe, except the partially understood universe itself. With functions and faculties as varied as imagination, intuition, logical reasoning, empathy, and sense of colour, beauty and rhythm, human mind is unique in this universe.

Human body too exhibits peculiarities unparalleled in the animal kingdom. No other animal can make movements as varied as man. For example, he can balance himself on two feet and perform amazing things, almost defying the exigencies of the laws equilibrium. He can swim, dive, climb trees, perform a somersault, stand on the head, and so on. Man’s complex brain controls all such movements, which, in turn, is stimulated by such movements.

In short, when the movements of your body parts, muscles, and joints are wide and varied, your brain works meticulously and in turn, gets stimulated. When the movements are restricted and limited, your brain does not receive the required stimulation and consequently, your mental functions, especially those relating to spiritual experiences, tend to diminish.

Primitive men and women were adept tree-climbers, because, like most other primates, man originally lived in trees. Later, he started to build huts and lived in them but did not forget the skill to climb trees. To collect honey or to pick fruits and nuts he continued to climb trees.

Later, man became a farmer abandoning his life as hunter gatherer. This obviated the need for long journeys on foot and the necessity to climb trees. When the movements of his limbs and muscles became limited and restricted, his brain ceased to get sufficient stimulation he used to get in the past and, consequently, his mental life especially the spiritual leanings and experiences became limited.

Tree climbing and clambering over steep rocks call for coordinated functioning of a number of muscles, which no other activity requires. The feet are turned upward, abdominal muscles are put into action and the thoracic and limb muscles are simultaneously put to use. Settled life in farms took away at least sixty percent of all muscular movements the ancient man used make. In urbanized people, muscular movements are still limited. Ask a town dweller to cross a stream treading on a log laid across it. A simple day- to-day activity for even a child in the countryside, the task is a formidable and often impossible one for an urbanized man.

In India, wise men in the early period of settled life saw the spiritual degradation among people and intelligently connected it to the reduced muscular activity. For those who would opt for higher consciousness and greater spiritual experience, they devised exercises which would simulate the lost movements in the ancient era. They taught their followers the scientific way of regaining the spiritual heights and intuitive wisdom of the ancient man without actually undoing the whole of human civilization.

There are as many as eighty five yogic exercises and their numerous derivatives available. By practising all these, you can cause the movement of every muscle in the body in all possible ways, enhancing the activity of all the systems, especially the endocrine system. The spirituality and consciousness lost to the settled and civilized man are regained while retaining the obvious advantages of modernity.

Asanas, or yoga exercises, are, by no means, an end in themselves. On the other hand, they are only the beginning of the search for realizing the Ultimate Truth. After learning and practising Yama and Niyama which are a set of moral principles, you are initiated into Asanas. As you become adept in Asanas, your mind and body are purified and you become eligible to receive wisdom relating to the Ultimate Truth, which is made possible through Pranayama (yogic breathing), Dhyana (meditation) etc.